*Question:*
السّلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
In Sūrah al-Tawbah, verse 3, the Qur’ān states:
“وَأَذَانٌ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ إِلَى ٱلنَّاسِ يَوْمَ ٱلْحَجِّ ٱلْأَكْبَرِ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ بَرِيءٌ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ وَرَسُولُهُ”
A declaration from Allah and His Messenger to all people on the day of the greater pilgrimage: that Allah is free from the polytheists, and so is His Messenger.
In this verse, we see that “اللَّهَ” is in the accusative case (naṣb) because it is the noun of “أنَّ”. However, the word “رَسُولُهُ” appears in the nominative case (raf‘), not accusative, even though it seems to be conjoined (‘aṭf) to اللَّهَ. Shouldn’t the conjunction require that both words share the same grammatical case? Why then is “رَسُولُهُ” in raf‘?
*Answer:*
There are several explanations offered by scholars for why “رَسُولُهُ” is in the nominative case:
• Separate Sentence Interpretation:
The phrase “وَرَسُولُهُ” is treated as a separate, independent sentence, with an implied predicate. The full understood meaning would be:
“وَرَسُولُهُ بَرِيءٌ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ”
Here, the conjunction is not linking “رَسُولُهُ” to اللَّهَ directly, but rather introducing a new clause. The omission of the predicate is permissible due to its indication in the preceding statement.
• Conjunction to the Hidden Subject (فاعل مستتر):
The word “رَسُولُهُ” is in the nominative case because it is being conjoined to the hidden subject (فَاعِل) of the predicate “بَرِيءٌ”. Though the word “بَرِيءٌ” implies the subject (Allah), a pronoun was not inserted for clarification (as is often done, e.g., “اذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَأَخُوكَ”). This is acceptable due to the separation between the parts of the sentence, which permits the conjunction without explicit reinforcement.
• Conjunction to the place (محل) – the grammatical position of a clause:
In this view, “رَسُولُهُ” is being conjoined to the overall clause “أَنَّ اللَّهَ بَرِيءٌ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ”, which acts as the predicate (خبر) of the word “أذان” earlier in the verse. The entire clause, although headed by “أنَّ”, is in the nominative case by its role as a predicate. Thus, “رَسُولُهُ” follows in the same grammatical position by conjunction to the implied nominal clause. The full understanding would be: “الإعلامُ مِنَ اللَّهِ بَرَاءَتُهُ مِنَ المُشْرِكِينَ وَبَرَاءَةُ رَسُولِهِ”.
ورسوله لك فيه أوجه الإعراب الثلاثة:
– مبتدأ وخبره محذوف، والتقدير: (ورسوله بريء) وتم حذف الخبر لدلالة الأول (بريء) عليه.
– و(رسوله) اسم معطوف على الضمير المستتر في (بريء) إذ التقدير: (بريء هو)، وجاز العطف على الضمير المرفوع في (بريء) وإن لم يؤكد لوجود الفاصل بالجار والمجرور (من المشركين) لأنه يقوم مقامه.
– يرى بعض العلماء ان (رسوله) مرفوع بالعطف على موضع (أن) واسمها (أن الله) موضعها الرفع، لأنه خبر ل(أذان) حين إعرابه مبتدأ، أي الإعلام من الله براءته من المشركين. (إعراب القرآن لسليمان ياقوت ١٨٤٢)
Allah knows best.
Abbas Afzal
19 Dhul-Ḥijjah / 15 June 2025
